Is Penn State shutting down its Multicultural Resource Center? Here’s what we know

Changes to a center on Penn State’s University Park campus dedicated to offering college counseling and educational services for diverse undergraduate students are coming, but what exactly that will look like is still largely unknown.

A social media post circulating within the Penn State community indicated the Multicultural Resource Center is closing at the end of the academic year — which the center’s director confirmed to the Centre Daily Times on Friday.

“I can confirm that the University has made the decision to close the Multicultural Resource Center, at the end of this academic year,” Melissa Landrau Vega wrote in an email. She directed all questions to Vice Provost for Educational Equity Marcus Whitehurst and to the administration.

Separate from academic advisors, the MRC has counselors who focus on helping students develop skills that will help them be successful in graduation and beyond, according to its website. Additionally, it has student groups, and the MRC Leadership Council of students serve as MRC ambassadors and student advocates.

When the Centre Daily Times initially inquired about the center closing on Friday, Penn State spokesperson Wyatt Dubois in an email said the university’s leadership has been “discussing the unique functions of the Multicultural Resource Center and exploring the possibility of taking an alternative unique approach to increase recruitment of, and support for, low-income and first-generation students.”

But he said those discussions were in preliminary stages and that no decisions have been made about what steps may be taken, and there weren’t any changes made to the center. He said Penn State remains committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging on campus and within the broader community.

In a phone interview Monday, Whitehurst gave more details about the potential future of the center but pushed back against the narrative that the center will close.

“We’re in the process of exploring ways to have greater impact and enhance student success with an existing program that’s in the Multicultural Resource Center. So to jump to saying ‘Hey, we’re closing this’ is inaccurate,” Whitehurst said.

The MRC has a Comprehensive Studies Program and they’ve had internal discussions about scaling it, Whitehurst said. The program focuses on first generation and Pell eligible students, and provides mentorship and support for the students, who are all Pennsylvania residents, he said.

“We just had some internal conversations about this particular program within the Multicultural Resource Center, and looking to scale this particular program to have greater impact for these first generation and Pell eligible students, and so we were hoping to leverage the existing personnel in the Multicultural Resource Center to refocus and to transition into a bigger program around the Comprehensive Studies Program,” Whitehurst said.

He pointed to a study that showed higher graduation and retention rates among students who participated in the CSP compared to those who didn’t.

“When we looked at these results, we found that the CSP program proved highly effective in fostering student success ... evident in significantly improved graduation and retention rates compared to their non-CSP counterparts. And so these are the discussions that we were having with, again, the staff in the Multicultural Resource Center, as well as some of our DEIB leadership over the course of the last couple of months,” Whitehurt said.

He emphasized these are still early discussions and did not have a timeline of when this might happen and how many more students it could support when it does happen.

When asked about the director saying the center will close, he said change is difficult for employees and that change can be perceived in different ways. He added they’re hoping this will be a university-wide effort and office to support students, regardless of their location. The “new version of the office” will remain within the Office of Educational Equity, he said.

He said there won’t be any jobs lost based on a transition of programs.

“The work that we’re doing is really about exploring ways to enhance and elevate existing, proven student services to leverage the success of our first-generation and Pell eligible students. We think that it is a great opportunity to provide focused support for some of our Pell eligible students in this process,” Whitehurt said.

A message on the MRC’s website Monday states it will “transition from its traditional service model” and they are still working through specific changes.

“The MRC will continue to provide support through the end of the Spring 2024 semester should you need to reconnect with your MRC counselor,” the message states.

Michele Stine, chair of the University faculty senate, in an email Saturday said she wasn’t aware of any decision to shut down the center.

“If there is a plan to close it at the end of this academic year, it would be a terrible breach of trust to announce it so abruptly; the academic year ends in just a few weeks. That seems counter to the President’s stated goal of enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” she said.

The university has long been criticized for what some say is a lack of commitment to diversity.

In 2022, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi canceled the Center for Racial Justice — a project announced in 2021 by former university president Eric Barron — and said the university would instead invest in already existing racial justice efforts at Penn State. The center would have provided resources, created a fellowship program and outreach opportunities, among other objectives. After the cancellation, Black faculty questioned the university’s commitment to diversity and anti-racism.

That has continued. In February, Penn State faculty also held a teach-in, the third one in as many semesters, which focused on racial justice and the university’s budget. Just last month, a group of Penn State professors, including King, have held “read-ins” at Old Main to shine light on what they say is a lack of commitment and action on racial justice at the university.

Another read-in is planned for noon April 16 at Old Main.

This also comes weeks after Spotlight PA reported that two diversity initiatives Penn State said would receive better funding do not actually exist. And although Bendapudi in 2022 pledged to invest money that would have gone to the CRJ into other DEI efforts, those programs saw budget cuts as the university’s fiscal year 2023 budget began.